Professor Rachel Muers

Chair of Divinity

  • School of Divinity

Contact details

  • https://www.ed.ac.uk/divinity

Address

Street

New College
Mound Place

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH1 2LX

Biography

Background

I joined the University of Edinburgh in 2022, as the first woman to be appointed to the historic Chair of Divinity.

I'm a theologian who tries to listen and speak across boundaries - disciplinary, confessional, and institutional. I have worked both on the history of Christian theology (particularly the twentieth century) and on developing new theological responses to urgent questions. I'm passionate about the importance and relevance of our subject, for the university and for wider society. 

I studied at the University of Cambridge (BA 1997, MPhil 1998, PhD 2002) and was Margaret Smith Research Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge from 2001 to 2003. I was a Lecturer in Theology at the University of Exeter from 2003 to 2007, and then Lecturer and later Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds from 2007; I was promoted to a personal chair in 2018.

I'm a former President of the Society for the Study of Theology and a current member of the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission.

Qualifications

PhD, University of Cambridge, 2002

Responsibilities & affiliations

World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission

Memberships: Society for the Study of Theology, Society for the Study of Christian Ethics, Quaker Studies Research Association

Undergraduate teaching

Contemporary Systematic Theologies

Christian Ethics

 

Postgraduate teaching

Systematic Theology: Recent Perspectives

Christian Ethics

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I warmly welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students in modern Christian theology, particularly as it intersects with ethical and political questions. Possible areas of interest include, but are very much not limited to: theology and feminism; theology and environment; theological style and theological method; Dietrich Bonhoeffer's thought; Christian pacifism and peace church traditions; Quaker theology.

Research summary

Modern Christian theology and ethics; theological method; feminism and theology; Quaker theology

Affiliated research centres

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